ASU Foundation
Fulton Center, home of the ASU Foundation
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| Formation | 22 June 1955 |
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| 86-6051042 | |
| Headquarters | Tempe, Arizona, U.S. |
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President and Chief Executive Officer
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R.F. “Rick” Shangraw Jr. |
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Development
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Gretchen Buhlig, Josh Friedman |
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Technology Enterprises
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Augustine V. Cheng, Senior Vice President and Managing Director |
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Assets
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M. Randall Levin, Senior Vice President and Managing Director |
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Key people
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Bill Post, Chairman of the Board of Directors |
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Revenue
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$165 million (FY14) |
| Endowment | $626 million (FY14) |
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Staff
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Foundation: 145 AzTE: 14 ASURE: 5 |
| Mission | To ensure the success of Arizona State University as a New American University |
| Website | asufoundation.org |
The ASU Foundation, officially known as the ASU Foundation for A New American University, is a nonprofit corporation created to support Arizona State University located in Tempe, Arizona. The foundation raises and manages money, private assets, and real estate, and directs the university’s commercialization of technology and other entrepreneurial initiatives. A U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation separate from the university, the ASU Foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors.
Size
In fiscal year 2014, the ASU Foundation generated more than $147 million in new gifts and commitments for the benefit of ASU while increasing its overall endowment to more than $626 million.[1][2]
History
The ASU Foundation was incorporated on June 22, 1955, as the Arizona State College Foundation. The foundation draws inspiration from the 1885 philanthropic offering of a single individual, Tempe butcher George Wilson,[3] forerunner of Arizona State University. The university recognized the gift in 1956 with the naming of a new women’s residence facility, George W. Wilson Hall.
The university underwent several name changes in its first few decades — Arizona Territorial Normal School, Arizona Normal School, Normal School of Arizona, Tempe Normal School of Arizona, and Tempe State Teachers College. As Arizona State Teachers College in the 1930s, it relied on the Bulldog Boosters organization for private support of its athletic programs. In the mid-1940s the fundraising group changed its name to Sun Angels, concurrent with the renaming of the college’s mascot to the Sun Devils.
In 1947, Grady Gammage, president of the newly named Arizona State College, established the Agricultural Advisory Council to advocate for and raise funds on behalf of the school’s agricultural activities. In 1955, the council was incorporated and renamed the Arizona State College Foundation, with its philanthropic mission broadened to serve the entire college.
A state referendum in 1958 renamed the college Arizona State University, with a concomitant name change for the foundation to Arizona State University Foundation, more commonly referred to as the ASU Foundation. In 2008, the foundation was renamed the Arizona State University Foundation for A New American University to reflect the vision laid out for the university by President Michael Crow when he began his tenure in 2002.[4] The foundation’s mission was similarly revised to read, “To ensure the success of Arizona State University as a New American University.”[5]
Methods
The ASU Foundation supports the university with returns on investment of funds provided by private and corporate philanthropy; with revenue derived from the transfer of ASU-created technology and other intellectual property; and with revenue generated through mission-oriented enterprises.
Philanthropy through the foundation is based on each donor’s areas of interest. The foundation’s guiding principle states, “Financial support is best advanced by determining and aligning the motivations and aspirations of our investors with the university’s mission.”[6] Utilizing ASU’s status as an upper-tier research university,[7] the foundation works to connect donors with the ASU colleges, institutes, or programs that share their interests.
Individual support of the university through the foundation can take the form of endowment gifts, annual gifts, donor-advised funds, estate gifts, and employer gift matching programs. Corporate and foundation benefactors also provide resources to advance the work of the university. Funds raised from these sources become part of a foundation portfolio invested according to an outsourced chief investment officer model, currently served by Perella Weinberg Partners.PWP Website The work of the OCIO is overseen by an investment committee appointed by the foundation’s board of directors, comprising six board members who are assisted by advisers from the university, the ASU Alumni Association, and the financial community. In addition to its portfolio, the ASU Foundation also oversees or initiates investments in real estate.
To derive revenue from intellectual property, technology transfer is managed by Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), a foundation subsidiary with a separate board of directors chaired by the foundation chief executive officer. AzTE works with university faculty and researchers to move ASU-sourced intellectual property into industry and the marketplace.
Commercial and multifamily residential holdings include the SkySong Innovation Center, SkySong Website a 42-acre, mixed-use development in Scottsdale, Arizona, that when built out will comprise up to 1.2 million square feet of research, office, retail, and multifamily residential components; the Fulton Center, a six-story, 156,000-square-foot office building that is home to the ASU Foundation, ASU leadership, and several restaurants; and the Brickyard on Mill, a seven-story, 202,000-square-foot mixed-use project occupied by various ASU departments and dining establishments. The Fulton Center and the Brickyard are in Tempe, Arizona. The foundation is also redeveloping an eight-story, 100-year-old historic building three blocks from the White House in Washington, DC, that will be occupied by ASU. Additionally, the foundation routinely accepts gifts of real estate.
Mission-oriented enterprises that benefit ASU include the ASU Research Enterprise (ASURE), a nonprofit applied research, development, and consulting affiliate that provides technology readiness level services for the defense and security industry; and the Research Collaboratory at ASU (RCASU), a nonprofit incubator that helps new initiatives bridge the gap between discovery and market application, and aids in certain international initiatives of the university.
Recognition
The ASU Foundation is rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator[8] and is a Silver-level GuideStar Exchange participant[9] in recognition of its commitment to transparency. It also received Career Builder’s Top Companies to Work for in Arizona recognition[10] in 2014 and 2015.
References
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